Abstract
This article debates martial arts in the Upper Xingu. Wrestling (kindene) and darts (jawari) are sporting competitions held during interethnic rituals. Egitsü, the aruak-karib post-funerary ritual, is celebrated in honour of deceased chiefs. It is the moment of greatest visibility and the match that ends it, the main event, is a mythological lesson. Jawari, a ritual of Tupi origin and also related to chieftaincy, historically incorporated these groups into the Xinguan universe. These martial arts are to be understood as mechanisms aimed at pacifying the relations between the peoples who come to compose this regional system, the specificity of the pax xinguana. I therefore plan to use the idea of the ‘weakening of oppositions’, developed by Lévi-Strauss, to demonstrate the transformations between war and ritual.
Keywords:
Upper Xingu; interethnic rituals; martial arts; pax xinguana